Center Alex Mateas, safety Ty-Meer Brown practicing

On a conference call with the media on Thursday UConn football coach Paul Pasqualoni said he was optimistic that starting center Alex Mateas and starting safety Ty-Meer Brown will be also to play Saturday against Buffalo.

Mateas injured his ankle and Brown suffered a shoulder injury in a loss at Western Michigan. While they were limited in practice earlier in the week, Pasqualoni said they have been able to practice.

"Everybody is practicing," Pasqualoni said. "We are working our way through it but we are optimistic that the injured guys will be available and will be up."

Pasqualoni also talking about the message the team received from wounded veterans this week including a powerful speech which I was able to get video of after Tuesday's practice.

"The message was in difficult time you have to take care of each other and be there for each other," Pasqualoni said. "The example that was given was the lieutenant who was injured and members of their platoon risked their lives under heavy fire to go get him and bring him in, get him in a safe place even though he was injured very seriously, shot very seriously. The message was if you protect each other, you take care of each other, you have to be able to trust each other, you have to be loyal to each other that is what it is all about. I thought it was a great message."